


Don't You Know That We's A Family?

by The3rdTrumpeteer



Category: Newsies (1992), Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, bein a little bitch, davey's a good friend, jack's in santa fe, there's always angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-12
Updated: 2018-06-12
Packaged: 2019-05-21 05:18:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14909082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The3rdTrumpeteer/pseuds/The3rdTrumpeteer
Summary: Jack took the deal and left for Santa Fe. He betrayed his friends. His family.But Crutchie still has a little hope.-In which Crutchie writes letters, and Davey's a good friend.





	Don't You Know That We's A Family?

Jack left them after the rally. No one knew at first. They were angry, and rightfully so. So when they all returned to the lodging house that night, some still ranting about what had just happened at Medda’s theatre, no one thought to check the roof to see if Jack was there.

The next day, Katherine gathered up the courage to climb the ladder, to see the boy she had actually started to feel something for before his damning words at the rally had crushed those feelings. He wasn’t up there. There were no drawings stashed by the railing. No blanket on the mattress that now sagged with rainwater. Jack was gone. When she told the others, only a few listened. Race left the room when she mentioned Jack’s name, and Specs just shook his head at the news, like he knew this would happen.

They lost the strike. It was inevitable. Paper prices stayed where they were, and none of the newsies had the will to fight any longer. Crutchie was stuck in the Refuge for another month, and when Specs went out one evening after everyone had finished selling and come back with Crutchie in his arms, no one could quite believe that he had actually survived.

“I guess Snyder didn’t need ‘im anymore once Jack left,” Specs whispered to Davey as he set Crutchie on a bottom bunk. He had yet to open his eyes. “Kept ‘im for awhile. He told me the other day he thought he was gettin’ out soon. Don’t know how he knew, but I found ‘im on the stairs of the Refuge a couple’a hours ago. He couldn’t even stand up. Don’t know what they did with his crutch.”

Every newsie had managed to visit Crutchie at least once during his stint in the Refuge; Race had almost gotten himself arrested trying to break out his friend one night. Crutchie asked everyone about Jack. Davey had visited the night after they found out Jack had left the city for good. He had been the one to tell Crutchie. That was the only time he remembered seeing Crutchie cry.

It took Crutchie two days to wake up after Specs brought him home. It was the middle of the night. Davey and Les were there; they had been staying over more and more the past month. Kloppman didn’t mind, of course, as long as they paid the night’s rent like everyone else. Crutchie woke up screaming, and Specs was at his side in a second. Davey followed close behind, along with Race, Albert, and a few others.

“Crutchie?” Specs asked. The newsie in question was still lying flat, but his eyes were wide, his forehead beaded with sweat. “Are you okay?”

Crutchie just shook his head. He opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, but no words came out.

“Just go back to sleep, Crutchie, it’s past midnight.” Davey reached to feel Crutchie’s forehead, worried he had a fever (something that could be fatal with his injuries), but Crutchie weakly pushed his hand away.

“Where is Jack?” Crutchie’s voice was little more than a whisper. Davey glanced nervously at Specs, who just shook his head. It was Race that answered, more gently than anyone thought he could when discussing Jack.

“Don’t you remember, Crutch? He...he left.”

Crutchie sighed. “I was just hopin’ it wasn’t true.”

And weren’t they all?

* * *

It was a few more days before Crutchie could get out of bed. His injuries weren’t infected (thank god, Davey thought), but it wasn't the physical pain that seemed to bothering him. He seemed lost. Quieter. He didn’t joke with the other boys much...not that there was much joking at all anymore. He spent all the time he wasn’t selling papers up on the roof. He refused any help getting up the ladder. Davey had tried the first time, but Crutchie snapped at him.

“I don’t need help from no one,” he said, his expression one of anger. Davey had never seen Crutchie so mad. He never wanted to see him like that.

And so when Crutchie came to him a little while later, Davey was surprised.

“I’m sorry, Davey,” he said.

“Don’t be.” None of this was fair to Crutchie. It wasn’t fair to any of them. How could Jack do this to them? Betray his friends, his  _family,_ and leave without another word?

“Could you, uh, help me with somethin’?” Crutchie asked.

Davey nodded. “Of course. What do you need?”

“Well...” Crutchie handed Davey a few scraps of paper, each folded neatly into squares. “I’ve been writing letters to Jack. I know it’s dumb, that he might never read them, but-”

“It’s not dumb,” Davey said. Crutchie gave him a smile, so rare these days.

“Thanks. Anyway...you’re real good with words, Davey. I was wonderin’ if you would look over my letters? I just want them to make sense, y’know?”

“Yeah. I’ll take a look at them.” 

Crutchie’s smile grew wider, and Davey was glad he said yes. He sat down on a nearby bunk (Romeo’s, he thought) and opened the first letter.

The words were kind, kinder than Davey thought Jack deserved, but that was just who Crutchie was. 

Every letter was signed with “your brother, Crutchie”...until the last one. Crutchie had only written “your friend”.

“Why is this one different?” Davey asked. Crutchie looked, and his smile fell.

“I wrote that one today,” he said. “It’s just...Jack’s been gone so long, y’know? And he didn’t even say goodbye. He forgot about us. Family doesn’t do that.”

Crutchie was right. Family didn’t do that. But there was still a little part inside all of them that believed Jack had a good reason for leaving, that he might even come back one day. And Davey especially didn’t want Crutchie to lose that hope.

“You and Jack are still brothers, Crutchie,” he said. “Once you forget that, he’s gone forever.”

Crutchie sighed. “I didn’t think about it like that. I’m just so  _angry_  with him.”

“I know. Me too. Here,” Davey fished a pencil out of his pocket and scratched out the word “friend”, writing “brother” just underneath it. “Now it’s right. We don’t have to forgive Jack, but family’s family, right?”

“Yeah.” Crutchie took the letters back, stared at the pages. There were tears in his eyes. “Family’s family. I just wish I didn’t lose my brother.”

**Author's Note:**

> find me on tumblr: poorguysheadisdoingwhatnow


End file.
